[OOH Focus] Location is key to OOH future

©Hannu Viitanen via 123RF

While I've covered the topic of "the future of out of home" in some detail and recently addressed "the role of mobile on the continent" as well in this regard, there are always new points to make and new concepts to discuss when thinking out of home (OOH). There are also many predictions that are made year-after-year, but one thing is for certain, technology and mobile is driving the real change in the advertising, media and communications industry.

This particular opinion piece addresses the next generation of thinking regarding trends in the world of OOH for 2016 and beyond and is a direct reference to Posterscope UK's recent 'Pioneering OOH 2016' report.

As much we see a number of recurring themes, albeit in different or advanced iterations, there are some new emerging trends, all covering a broad range of terminology extending from "real-time, reality, real benefits, pre-order, connected consumer engagement, payment gateways, ad-blocking, ad-serving, advertising for good, multi-device and multiple screens", through to "the experience economy", and ending with the inevitable "programmatic for OOH".

Contactless payments

To start off with, contactless payments (whether enabled through downloaded Apps like Snapscan, or embedded as part of the mobile handset operating system like Apple's NFC activation of Apple Pay), will become a primary financial transaction platform in the immediate future. Every transaction is an opportunity for brands to engage in further conversation with consumers when OOH as the POS information provides an understanding of what product or service was purchased and where in real time.

Beacon technology

The next opportunity for brands to engage further with consumers is on the back of Bluetooth-enabled beacon technology as beacons are increasingly being housed within OOH locations. An open broadcast link to consumers' handsets will enable retail outlets or businesses to communicate directly with consumers when in the designated environments, presenting tailor made offers and enriching the customer experience.

Ease of fulfilment

The next two developments are in essence driven off a common need, namely convenience delivered by the brand and ease of fulfilment.

This particular development addresses consumer obsession with eliminating time wastage, not having to stand in queues and achieving instant gratification. It is focused on real-time, or pre-order service enablement, whereby consumers can pre-order their coffee through the likes of a "mobile order and pay" app before arriving at the store - making the in-store experience seamless as they by-pass the queue, or even have goods delivered directly to their desks through the likes of Amazon Prime, which provides consumers a "1 hour from purchase to delivery" service, giving consumers a near-real time fix on buying and delivering. The role for OOH here is to enabled the real-time connection between consumers and brands prior to arriving at the store, by taking over the role of "shop window" and enhancing the brand experience.

'Click and collect'

The second of these two "convenience" oriented developments look at the 'Click and collect' shopping behaviour of so many time-starved consumers, especially within the young, urban and mobile segment. While home delivery is not convenient for these active consumers, being out-and-about enables them to collect pre-ordered goods at a physical retail store. As their lifestyle is predominantly experienced OOH, they are much more receptive to OOH messages and have a very positive attitude towards Digital OOH.

An important consideration for retailers is the increasing opportunities to engage in conversations with these consumers, the very group that may actually define much of what the retail landscape will look like in years to come.

Experience economy

Taking all of the above into account, and the long list of themes not covered in this thought piece, the most impressive development for me, in the world of OOH, relates to the fact that we live in an 'Experience Economy' and that consumers are increasingly marketing savvy and ignore disruptive advertising that doesn't provide something valuable to them. This presents a huge opportunity for the brands that can actually disrupt and reward consumers for providing their attention.

With greater importance in experiential marketing as a way of creating a consumer brand experience, we need to deliver even stronger proof points that the experience, big or small, is working for advertisers.

In closing, it's about understanding the needs-state of the consumer and serving the right message, at the right time and in the right format. But most of all, it's the ability to deliver with a clear understanding of the consumers' location, location, location!